Happy week of Thanksgiving. We are so grateful to the ecoright and their cumulative steps toward driving climate action. Here’s what’s happening today
Stefanki “power player”: Fox News’ Chris Wallace deemed Rep. Elise Stefanik, House Climate Solutions Caucus member and author of a GOP climate resolution, the “power player of the week” in Washington, citing her work on climate change as an issue that stands her apart. “We need to find a solution,” Stefanik said of her efforts to lead on climate change. Check out the segment here.
Caucus hits 62: Speaking of the House Climate Solutions Caucus, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) became the 31st GOP lawmaker to join. While earlier this year he introduced a bill to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, we are hopeful that climate leadership in Florida has helped sway him to more pragmatic waters. His entry makes six lawmakers hailing from Florida.
Our new favorite mayor: Georgetown, Texas Mayor Dale Ross, a self-professed right-wing Republican, spoke during a panel discussion in Halifax on climate change, telling the audience, “folks think that since I’m a Republican that me and (Donald) Trump agree on all environmental and energy issues…we rarely agree in those areas. During the campaign, he said there is clean coal. There is no such thing as clean coal. He said he’s going to bring coal jobs back to the U.S. They are never coming back, they’re dead. There are about 30,000 coal miners right now and those jobs need to be transitioned into wind and solar industries. Texas is No. 1 in solar energy and No. 5 in wind energy in the U.S. And that’s going to improve. . . . In five years, we’ll be No. 1 in wind and solar and that’s a resource in Texas that will just go for thousands and thousands of years.” Georgetown operates 100 percent on renewable energy and residents saw a 24 percent decrease in electricity bills.
Here’s hoping for a climate jester (turkey) free week!